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National September 11 Memorial (Courtesy of Joe Woolhead/Courtesy of National September 11 Memorial & Museum)

[Editor’s Note: This the third in a three-part series documenting the winners of the AIA 2013 Honor Awards, which are broken down into three categories: architecture, interiors, and urban design. This list covers the urban design awards, but additional segments spotlight winners in architecture and interior architecture.]

The American Institute of Architects has announced the 2013 recipients of the Institute Honor Awards for Architecture. The list is comprised of a range of projects from across the country and the world, including plans to cap over railyards at Washington, D.C.’s Union Station, a plan for a large new neighborhood in San Francisco, and the September 11 Memorial in New York.

The five-person jury that selected this year’s AIA Urban Design Honor Award winners included: Mark Shapiro, Mithun; Ellen Dunham-Jones, Georgia Institute of Technology; William A. Gilchrist, Place Based Planning; Toni L. Griffin, The City College of New York; and Thomas E. Luebke, U.S. Commission of Fine Arts.

The AIA will honor the recipients at the AIA 2013 National Convention and Design Exposition in Denver in late June.

Superkilen (Courtesy of Iwan Baan)

SUPERKILEN
BIG | Bjarke Ingels GroupCopenhagen, Denmark

From the AIA Jury:

This project is a joy! This is not only original, but stunning to behold. It is noteworthy for its aesthetic approach, which is straightforwardly artificial rather than pretending to be natural. One of the project’s most exciting dimensions is its inclusion of the diverse community of users. Its bold use of color and public art (both high and popular) in spaces that promote social interaction and engagement all exude a high level of excitement and energy through what once looked like residual space.

This is a great integration of inventive architecture and sustainable urbanism into a traditional, low-income fabric. The project does a very interesting and successful job of comingling variations of public and private space. By creating variations in the housing typology, building placement on the site and landscape treatments, the development proposal has appeal to multiple household types, creates private and shared space, and it completes the urban context of the neighborhood.

Parkmerced Vision Plan (Courtesy of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP)

Parkmerced Vision Plan
Skidmore, Owings & MerrillSan Francisco

From the AIA Jury:

This is one of the most ambitious retrofits of an existing suburban apartment complex with green infrastructure this jury has seen. Instead of typical ‘urban’ or ‘suburban’ streetscapes it will provide a new high-performing, hybrid experience that is both dense and lush with improved connectivity to transit. They’ve added a series of layers to the existing fabric of the mid-century garden suburb development.

National September 11 Memorial (Courtesy of Joe Woolhead/Courtesy of National September 11 Memorial & Museum)

National September 11 Memorial (Courtesy of Joe Woolhead/Courtesy of National September 11 Memorial & Museum)National September 11 Memorial (Courtesy of Joe Woolhead/Courtesy of National September 11 Memorial & Museum)

National September 11 Memorial
Handel ArchitectsNew York City

From the AIA Jury:

This is an exquisite memorial that captures the absence of the towers both literally and poetically. Its execution creates a successful space for collective mourning and remembrance. It lives up to its role as a significant and appropriate memorial but also acts as a functioning part of a more livable and beautiful city by providing remarkable views from above, casual seating for daily use as well as the emotional experience of the memorial.

This is an excellent example of sustainable design that supports food production and habitable spaces and establishes a viable regional footprint for agriculture, housing, and natural conservation. It is commendable to see a development that relates to the canals and addresses pressing production and sustainability issues in the context of growth in China.

The Great Lakes Century – a 100-year Vision (Courtesy of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill LLP)

This is a strong environmental vision for an important global natural asset. There is power in the grand scale and how it looks at regional sustainability less in terms of direct environmental protection and more in terms of a transformational shift to a green regional economy catalyzed by high speed rail connectivity.

This is an outstanding development of the public edge of the city at its waterfront. The project transforms the convention center typology into a true “civic” piece of the city. The balance of built and open space is spectacular and the linear orientation of the park and convention center take full advantage of the water’s edge. Detailing of the water’s edge integrates human access with ecological habitat restoration and sustainable systems to an impressive degree.
This is beautifully done with an integration of urban and architectural strategies.

Burnham Place at Union Station (Courtesy of Akridge and Shalom Baranes Associates, PC)

This is a commendable plan for the sensitivity it shows to reconnecting DC’s historic context while successfully integrating an extremely complex set of uses and transportation modes. Despite the challenges of building on a podium above the rail yards, the plan’s framework maintains continuity of public streets and bikeways lined with mixed-use development while including a new public space extending from the expanded, updated new station hall.